Local & National Video

Akron School Board holds November meeting

The Akron School Board met Tuesday, November 13.
Regan Benson again addressed the school board on transparency issues and asked the board not to approve the minutes from the meetings in September and October. However, these minutes had already been approved. Benson said the board does not announce when the meetings are, and still felt the board was not fair when they ruled she could not apply for the vacancy on the board because she had not been living in the district long enough to qualify. She also suggested the district institute a student board of education. She was going to talk about the passing of Amendment 64, but it was in the agenda for the board to discuss later in the meeting.
FFA members Emilie Brent and Lizzie Alonso-Holtorf thanked the board for allowing them to attend the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis. Brent spoke about the places they were able to visit, including the Case combine factory, the Science Museum and the Chicago Board of Trade. Alonso-Holtorf said they went to the Indianapolis Speedway and also visited the museum there. They talked about the conference and how they learned a lot that will help them in FFA and individually. Both girls then again thanked the board for the privilege of attending the conference.
Woody Woods reported on BOCES and said there has been no meeting since October. A BOCES board retreat is being held in January. There was no CASB report, but a representative is needed.

Advertisement

Member Kyle Dorrenbacher volunteered to become CASB representative and was quickly approved by the board.
Dick Huwa of RLH Engineering said everyone is trying to get final reports done, finish out the few changes and correct any problems. Tom Landsberger and Joe Glaze of The Neenan Company then spoke to the board. They said they are working on final billing and final reports. They also spoke about the LEEDS program and said when they submit their report, they will submit 66 points for the energy efficiency. The school needs 60 points to qualify for the LEED program.
On that subject, Ag instructor Matt Brown said one of the requirements for 10 points is that the students need to have 10 hours of instruction on energy conservation and there are six divisions such as conserving water. Brown said he would like to get the approval of the board. Six hours of study would be in the classroom, and he would arrange for all the material for the classes. The other four hours would be hands on where the students would go to different centers to learn about conserving energy. The district has about nine months to finish this training and prove that they have held the classes to qualify for the ten points for the LEED program.
Benson then objected to changing her child's curriculum and said that she needed time to talk to parents. She said the board needs to communicate with the public, and she felt that the students should also hear about our country's dependence on foreign oil. The board said they would put this information on the school's web site and in the newsletter that goes out every week.
The board then discussed Amendment 64. Although there are a lot of questions, they don't have many answers. Superintendent Bryce Monasmith said that some of the policies may need to be changed, but no one knows for sure how passing the amendment to legalize marijuana will change the present policies. Marijuana is still not legal by the federal laws, but the state laws will change.
Bus storage lockers were discussed. Both Maintenance Director Nancy Bullard and Justin Wylie spoke to the board and said there is not enough storage space in the buses for all the gear taken by the different athletic teams. They spoke about fiber glass boxes that could be installed in the buses, about the strength of the boxes and how the boxes would alleviate some of the problems. The board will discuss this at the next meeting work's session, which will start at 5:30 p.m. instead of 6:30 p.m.
In other business, consent agenda items that were approved were the hiring of Randy Arnold as Maintenance Director; Amanda Stoll as a substitute teacher; volunteers Janelle Strait, classroom, and Matt Minnear, wrestling, and the resignation of Jacqueline Bucaro, para professional.
The next Akron School Board meeting will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, December 11 in the library.